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Imam Ramee with wife and children
My message is peace claims deport threat Imam
Steve Hammond4/ 5/2004
A PREGNANT mother-of-eight has launched a desperate campaign to
stop her and her Imam husband being deported to the USA.
Haneefa Muhammad said her husband, Imam Ramee Abdul Rahman
Muhammad, is caught in "fast track" deportation procedure and that
she will soon face the same ordeal.
US-born Imam Ramee came to the UK in 2001 to teach in mosques and
Islamic institutes.
He and his wife are now claiming asylum in Britain because they
claim a return to the US would put their lives and freedom in
danger because of rising anti-Muslim witch-hunts encouraged by the
state.
After two articles in tabloid newspapers claiming Imam Ramee once
preached sermons of hate to suicide bombers, immigration officials
visited his home in Cheetham Hill, Manchester.
He was asked to report to a local court where he was suddenly
seized, refused bail, and taken to the Harmsworth detention centre
near London ready for deportation.
Said Mrs Muhammad: "I am desperately worried. My husband was not
aware they were about to deport him when he went to the court. He
was just seized. He has not been able to appeal. They are fast
tracking him out of the country all over these articles which were
untrue.
"I am facing the same deportation procedure but it has been delayed
because I have a medical condition."
Before he was detained Imam Ramee spoke to Asian News and denounced
the tabloid stories that claimed he enjoyed £1,400 a month in
benefits while making a 'mad' asylum claim.
He also denied press accusations that he used to spout words of
hate to impressionable young British Muslims including Asif Hanif,
who killed three Jewish people in Israel when he blew himself up
outside a Tel Aviv bar, and shoe bomber 'Richard Reid.
He said: "These stories are garbage. They have really damaged me
and all Muslims. People who know me in Manchester say they cannot
believe what was written."
Former US marine Ramee says he is seeking asylum in Britain from
America because he would be in great danger if he is deported back
to the States where he was born.
"Even before 9/11 Muslim converts were being persecuted there. In
the Chicago mosque where I was Imam, some were jailed, some were
even killed by the authorities.
"Two of my closest religious colleagues have been told they cannot
leave the United States. If I was sent back I would fear for my
life and the lives of my wife and children."
Imam Ramee was born to a Muslim father and a Christian mother. He
converted to Islam when he came across a Muslim cleric while he was
working in the prison service.
He admits he may once have swallowed the "false" version of Islam
that approves of terror bombing but insists that well before he
lectured to students, including Hanif and Reid, at the Finsbury
Park Mosque, he changed his to one of peace.
He also denies he wants to live off benefits.
He said: "I have been in Britain since 2001 and had been taking
care of my family with the proceeds of my teaching work.
"I am only on benefits now because under British law an asylum
seeker is barred from having paying employment.
"I teach peace. Once I began to read deeper into Islam I realised
that the youth were not being told the full story, that jihad is
speaking the truth, not blowing yourself up.
"I am no more responsible for the attitudes and actions of youths
like Reid than are their British teachers at school.
"Recently Mohammed Bakri of the Finsbury Park Mosque said a bomb
attack in Britain is inevitable. This just does not have to be the
case if youth are taught properly. It is clearly stated, for
example, that Muslims cannot bomb their homeland.
"I think it's appaling what some of the Mujahadeen are doing, they
have shown no care for the youth by pushing them into violent
acts."
Imam Ramee says he wants to go on spreading the peace message in
Manchester mosques.
An Immigration Service spokesman said: "The Home Secretary set up
this fast track procedure to deal with cases that are totally
unfounded. The US does not constitute a threat."
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